Secret Elf Finale
Shiloh Adlar
January 2018
It was another great year for Secret Elf where HOL'ers decided to sign up to help with the HOLidays by taking the place of elves and giving gifts to their fellow students and professors. The turnout for this event was higher than expected and the gifts that were sent in were so well done that even the elves were surprised and overjoyed to gift them out to their recipients.
The elves stay busy throughout HOLidays so they were very grateful to receive the help they did. They started off nervous as always wondering how many gifts they would have to come up with last minute to give out for missing Secret Elves, but in the end, almost everyone had their gift up and ready to go! The elves did a jolly little dance up at the North Pole with song and cheer and lots and lots of butterbeer which we Helpers brought up with us when we went to visit.
I, having worked with the elves at the North Pole before, remembered that they always loved the sweet, warm flavor of butterbeer, so I told Gail that we needed to bring enough to last the few weeks we would be there, not only for us but also for the many elves that went crazy over the stuff. Gail Allen was new to working with the elves this year, but she took on the task diligently.
The first task I told her that we were assigned was to pair people up. At first, we thought of drawing names out of a hat, but then we took to looking at all the wish lists we had been sent from our participants. From there, we took on the very hard and very long duty of pairing up like persons. If someone wanted a craft and someone else was very good at crafts, we put them together. If someone was hoping to receive some awesome recipes and someone else was a really good cook, they got put together. It took hours upon hours but eventually, the task was complete. Gail and I breathed a sigh of relief before we sent out owls to deliver the name and wish list of each recipient to their Secret Elf.
Weeks went by at the North Pole and gifts started coming in slowly one by one. Gail and I sorted through each post by owl that we received, making sure the owls warmed up and got a tasty treat before sending them back to their respective owners. There certainly was a lot to sort through, but we finally got all the gifts ready to go to the person they were meant to go to. We called back up the special North Pole owls who were used to cold weather and sent them out for delivery.
It was exciting to see the reactions of everyone when their owls arrived. Gail and I had hurried back to Hogwarts to see those who had decided to stay for the HOLidays open up their gifts. It’s a good thing I know how to apparate because I had to help Gail along with side-along apparition. Anyway, the response was wonderful, and we immediately wrote back to the elves at the North Pole to let them know how happy everyone was.
The North Pole elves have agreed to hopefully hold Secret Elf again next year since it is quickly becoming an HOL tradition. They have decided to take it easy and rest until then because they expect it to be even more splendid in years to come. Gail and I do hope that all of you had fun and choose to participate again in future HOLidays!
It was another great year for Secret Elf where HOL'ers decided to sign up to help with the HOLidays by taking the place of elves and giving gifts to their fellow students and professors. The turnout for this event was higher than expected and the gifts that were sent in were so well done that even the elves were surprised and overjoyed to gift them out to their recipients.
The elves stay busy throughout HOLidays so they were very grateful to receive the help they did. They started off nervous as always wondering how many gifts they would have to come up with last minute to give out for missing Secret Elves, but in the end, almost everyone had their gift up and ready to go! The elves did a jolly little dance up at the North Pole with song and cheer and lots and lots of butterbeer which we Helpers brought up with us when we went to visit.
I, having worked with the elves at the North Pole before, remembered that they always loved the sweet, warm flavor of butterbeer, so I told Gail that we needed to bring enough to last the few weeks we would be there, not only for us but also for the many elves that went crazy over the stuff. Gail Allen was new to working with the elves this year, but she took on the task diligently.
The first task I told her that we were assigned was to pair people up. At first, we thought of drawing names out of a hat, but then we took to looking at all the wish lists we had been sent from our participants. From there, we took on the very hard and very long duty of pairing up like persons. If someone wanted a craft and someone else was very good at crafts, we put them together. If someone was hoping to receive some awesome recipes and someone else was a really good cook, they got put together. It took hours upon hours but eventually, the task was complete. Gail and I breathed a sigh of relief before we sent out owls to deliver the name and wish list of each recipient to their Secret Elf.
Weeks went by at the North Pole and gifts started coming in slowly one by one. Gail and I sorted through each post by owl that we received, making sure the owls warmed up and got a tasty treat before sending them back to their respective owners. There certainly was a lot to sort through, but we finally got all the gifts ready to go to the person they were meant to go to. We called back up the special North Pole owls who were used to cold weather and sent them out for delivery.
It was exciting to see the reactions of everyone when their owls arrived. Gail and I had hurried back to Hogwarts to see those who had decided to stay for the HOLidays open up their gifts. It’s a good thing I know how to apparate because I had to help Gail along with side-along apparition. Anyway, the response was wonderful, and we immediately wrote back to the elves at the North Pole to let them know how happy everyone was.
The North Pole elves have agreed to hopefully hold Secret Elf again next year since it is quickly becoming an HOL tradition. They have decided to take it easy and rest until then because they expect it to be even more splendid in years to come. Gail and I do hope that all of you had fun and choose to participate again in future HOLidays!